Since the launch of Spotify in 2008, streaming has transformed the music industry. A total of 91 billion songs — 1,300 songs per person — were streamed in the UK last year thanks to the Swedish-based company, Apple Music and other platforms, according to the Entertainment Retailers’ Association.
Consultancy OC&C Music found that streaming has the potential to be worth £1.6 billion by 2023, if there are a range of new services to target different customers. One way to input innovation is via niche platforms.
Last week a new entrant named jazzed was launched, focused on, you guessed it, jazz music (jazzed.com). Headed by Jonathan Arendt, former CEO of Jazz FM, it will offer audio channels, video content, podcasts and documentaries as well as music.
“Streaming tech gives the ability to experience music and all that surrounds it, in a very different way,” says Arendt. “Jazz has been massively underserved by the mainstream. It is now possible to create a service that really satisfies the needs of users.”
Compared to Apple Music, which has just a single “Jazz” category, the new platform’s audio channels will focus on the ecosystems of the genre, from the sound of New Orleans to the influence of Polish jazz to Latin jazz and salsa beats. Arendt describes this as taking the very best of radio into the streaming world: “We could only do this within an app — allowing users to switch between moves, grooves and discovery at any time and to dig deep into the artist’s world at will.”
There’s a freemium version, a premier tier named jazzed+ for £5.99 a month, and a more expensive subscription, jazzed premium, which is set to launch later this year and aims to stream all music in premium HD quality (flac 16-bit — a similar sound quality to CDs).
A focus on music quality is also what helps Primephonic, which specialises in classical music, differentiate itself. With 3.5 million tracks in the library, the platform is the largest collection of classical music in the world. It has 180,000 registered customers and says one-third of its listeners are under 35.
The albums you need to hear this February
1/8 Green Day — The Father of All Motherf****** (February 7)
The fathers of all pop punk return with their 13th album next month, and will play a huge stadium show alongside Fall Out Boy and Weezer in the Olympic Park in June. Both the title track and Fire, Ready, Aim suggest the trio aren’t smoothing out their sound in old age. They’re as rough and rowdy as ever.
Getty Images for dcp
2/8 Tame Impala — The Slow Rush (February 14)
Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker will be back with his fourth album on Valentine’s Day. The success of its predecessor, Currents, led to collaborations with artists as varied as Kanye West, Lady Gaga and Travis Scott, so expect his psych-rock stew to contain even more ingredients this time.
Getty Images for Coachella
3/8 Justin Bieber — Changes (February 14)
We’ve had to wait a while for this new album from the Biebz — his last full-length, Purpose, arrived all the way back in 2015. He’s given us a taste of what this new project will sound like with two silky slow-burners, Yummy and Get Me, the second of which features US vocalist Kehlani.
AFP via Getty Images
4/8 Moses Boyd — Dark Matter (February 14)
A burning force behind the innovative London jazz scene, Moses Boyd looks set to take things another step forward on his long-awaited debut album. The Catford drummer and is set to call upon his production skills more than before on this record, but has still enlisted help from other live musicians, such as Joe Armon-Jones and Nubya Garcia.
Getty Images for Dunhill
5/8 Agnes Obel — Myopia (February 21)
To complete this record, Danish artist Agnes Obel locked herself away in her Berlin home studio and cut off any outside distractions. As with her previous work, it looks like this will result in a deeply felt, personally charged album. Expect strands of contemporary classical to mingle with serene vocals and lofty atmospherics.
AFP via Getty Images
6/8 BTS — Map of the Soul: 7 (February 21)
The world’s biggest boy band are back from their restorative hiatus and look set to continue their global dominance. They’ve announced two massive shows at Twickenham in July, in support of this latest album, Map of the Soul: 7. Fans have been treated to one single so far, the shimmering, classically inspired Black Swan, for which a five-minute “art film” was also released.
Getty Images for The Recording A
7/8 Grimes — Miss_Anthropocene (February 21)
Claire Boucher’s fifth full-length will be “a concept album about the anthropomorphic goddess of climate change,” and “each song will be a different embodiment of human extinction as depicted through a pop star demonology”. We’re intrigued, for sure. The first few singles suggest a darker sonic palette for Grimes, with elements of drum ‘n’ bass, nu metal and ethereal pop.
8/8 King Krule — Man Alive! (February 21)
Archy Marshall arrives with his third album under the name King Krule this month, and judging by the first single, (Don’t Let The Dragon) Draag On, he’s continuing to hone his trusted style: compellingly languid vocals over woozy, slowly strummed guitars. The record will also feature a newly recorded version of Alen Omen 3, featured in Marshall’s short film Hey World! from last year.
Getty Images for Coachella
1/8 Green Day — The Father of All Motherf****** (February 7)
The fathers of all pop punk return with their 13th album next month, and will play a huge stadium show alongside Fall Out Boy and Weezer in the Olympic Park in June. Both the title track and Fire, Ready, Aim suggest the trio aren’t smoothing out their sound in old age. They’re as rough and rowdy as ever.
Getty Images for dcp
2/8 Tame Impala — The Slow Rush (February 14)
Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker will be back with his fourth album on Valentine’s Day. The success of its predecessor, Currents, led to collaborations with artists as varied as Kanye West, Lady Gaga and Travis Scott, so expect his psych-rock stew to contain even more ingredients this time.
Getty Images for Coachella
3/8 Justin Bieber — Changes (February 14)
We’ve had to wait a while for this new album from the Biebz — his last full-length, Purpose, arrived all the way back in 2015. He’s given us a taste of what this new project will sound like with two silky slow-burners, Yummy and Get Me, the second of which features US vocalist Kehlani.
AFP via Getty Images
4/8 Moses Boyd — Dark Matter (February 14)
A burning force behind the innovative London jazz scene, Moses Boyd looks set to take things another step forward on his long-awaited debut album. The Catford drummer and is set to call upon his production skills more than before on this record, but has still enlisted help from other live musicians, such as Joe Armon-Jones and Nubya Garcia.
Getty Images for Dunhill
5/8 Agnes Obel — Myopia (February 21)
To complete this record, Danish artist Agnes Obel locked herself away in her Berlin home studio and cut off any outside distractions. As with her previous work, it looks like this will result in a deeply felt, personally charged album. Expect strands of contemporary classical to mingle with serene vocals and lofty atmospherics.
AFP via Getty Images
6/8 BTS — Map of the Soul: 7 (February 21)
The world’s biggest boy band are back from their restorative hiatus and look set to continue their global dominance. They’ve announced two massive shows at Twickenham in July, in support of this latest album, Map of the Soul: 7. Fans have been treated to one single so far, the shimmering, classically inspired Black Swan, for which a five-minute “art film” was also released.
Getty Images for The Recording A
7/8 Grimes — Miss_Anthropocene (February 21)
Claire Boucher’s fifth full-length will be “a concept album about the anthropomorphic goddess of climate change,” and “each song will be a different embodiment of human extinction as depicted through a pop star demonology”. We’re intrigued, for sure. The first few singles suggest a darker sonic palette for Grimes, with elements of drum ‘n’ bass, nu metal and ethereal pop.
8/8 King Krule — Man Alive! (February 21)
Archy Marshall arrives with his third album under the name King Krule this month, and judging by the first single, (Don’t Let The Dragon) Draag On, he’s continuing to hone his trusted style: compellingly languid vocals over woozy, slowly strummed guitars. The record will also feature a newly recorded version of Alen Omen 3, featured in Marshall’s short film Hey World! from last year.
Getty Images for Coachella
For a platinum subscription of £14.99 a month (primephonic.com) it offers 24-bit sound, a higher resolution than on other platforms. CEO Thomas Steffens says this is needed for classical: “Sometimes there can be 20 instruments at the same time and that gets lost in the data compression.” Yet it’s more expensive for companies to offer, as more server capacity is needed and an audio player had to be developed to handle the higher quality.
Steffens says its worth it. “Classical music is still very much at the root of contemporary music and movies. DJs base their dance tracks on classical music. Movies build tension and suspense based on how operas were composed 150 years ago. We feel it is an art that deserves to be preserved.”
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